Discoveries
by Tomoyo Ichijouji
Summary: Sakura and Syaoran puzzle out a way to use the Sakura Cards to see the stars on a cloudy, moonless night. Written for Belle in response to the prompt "Discovery" in 2007.


This oneshot was written from September to November 2007 in response to Belle's fic request prompt of "Discovery" for Sakura and Syaoran. I managed to fit in not just one, but quite a few different discoveries in here, of many different kinds. :)

While this doesn't have a particular time setting, it takes place during the Sakura Card season. This might also explain why Syaoran isn't quite as gruff with her here as in the previous two seasons.

* * *

_**Discoveries**_

"Li-kun?"

"What?"

"Remember when we looked for the Mirror Card together, flying on the Clow staff?"

Syaoran's voice caught for an instant before he said, "Yeah, so…what about it?"

Sakura paused for a moment, sighed, and took out her Sakura Cards, taking out one with the picture of a bird on one side. "When I transformed the Fly Card into a Sakura Card, it makes me able to fly without using my staff, so I can use more than one card at once."

Glancing around for a moment to make sure no one else was looking, she released her star staff and summoned the Fly Card, and a pair of translucent wings appeared on her back.

She took off hovered for a moment as Syaoran looked on in mystification as to what Sakura was getting at. "This is really nice and all, but…"

She landed and pursed her lips, looking at Syaoran sadly. "I'm the only one that can use it now. I can only use the Fly Card to make a pair of wings for me, and that leaves you down here on the ground."

Syaoran answered with vague awkwardness, "Well, they're your cards now, so why should that be a problem?" Looking at her with some perplexity, he added, "And why did this come up all of a sudden?"

Sakura looked up dejectedly at the low-lying clouds as she returned her wings to the Fly Card. "We've got to see the stars tonight for the astronomy project, don't we? I kept putting it off but I thought it would be clear today, so…" Sakura sighed again, gazing with dejection at her worksheet. "I was kind of looking forward to it, too…"

"…Was it because there's no moon tonight?"

"Oh, yeah, that was one reason," Sakura looked at him. "I didn't think you liked astrono-"

He grimaced at her. "My magic source is the moon. Don't you think I'd know when my powers are at their strongest and weakest?"

Sakura sweatdropped. "Oh yeah, th-that's right, of course…"

Syaoran sighed. He hadn't meant to sound so confrontational, but the thought had suddenly brought up painful memories of his sisters teasing him of how he'd have to deal with having a "time of month" like they did.

"Li-kun?"

"Nothing. It's nothing. Sorry."

Sakura thought for a second. Then she said with a grin, "Well, since your powers are your weakest today, then maybe we can use my magic instead!"

"Who said anything about using magic?"

"I'm thinking, Li-kun," she pointed up at the sky, "that we can see the stars if we go up past the clouds, we should be able to see them with no problem at all! But, we need to find some way we can both get up there, since we've both got to fill ours out, right?"

He blinked. As soon as they recognized that the clouds weren't lifting anytime soon, Syaoran himself had resigned to just going off by memory of all the astrology he had learned back in Hong Kong. But then he realized that Sakura didn't have any such previous knowledge to fall back on. "It's all right. I don't really need to; I already know what it looks like. You don't need to bring me along."

Sakura's face fell. "What…?" She shook her head vehemently. "No! I couldn't just leave you here by yourself, Syaoran-kun!"

Syaoran blushed a bit when he realized Sakura had used his first name, and at that Sakura responded a bit hastily, "Um, I mean…I know! If I flew, I could carry you up there!" She took out the Power Card. "And it wouldn't be any problem for me!"

Syaoran started, blushing even more. "N-n-no!! I-I can't…!"

Sakura winced, pursing her lips, feeling even more embarrassed. "You're right, that's a stupid idea…"

Not liking this cascade of embarrassment that was ensuing, he tried to think of a way to solve their dilemma. "W-wait…you used the Float Card before that held us both, didn't it? Let's try that!"

Unfortunately, they found out that although it could go considerable distances laterally, the higher it got the more unstable their position. Soon they were being blown about by the high winds and veering them way off course.

As a gust nearly blew them out of the sky, in a split second reaction Sakura whipped out a card and shouted, "Shield!!"

Suddenly they stabilized in the air. Sakura and Syaoran 'stood' (or whatever was the equivalent in midair) tentatively. Sakura grinned and lifted her star wand. They rose higher and higher in the opaque grayness of the clouds until they suddenly burst out into the crystal clear night sky.

Their eyes widened. "Wow…"

There were a million dazzling pinnacles of light bedecking the sky. Without the moon, the stars were able to shine their brightest, sparkling and glittering like a sea of diamonds spread above them.

After a moment, Sakura said, "I've never seen them like this before. They're so pretty…"

Syaoran looked at her. He'd actually been out looking at the stars many times as a part of his magic studies, and knew the constellations by heart. He'd had a few times when the sky was clear enough that he could see all the important star formations easily. Sakura hadn't, though, so this really was something special for her.

He looked back up. It was honestly the first time he'd seen them from this height before without city lights getting in the way. And stargazing this time…even if he thought he'd seen it enough times to be bored, it was as if he was looking with a new pair of eyes. The magic that they had held in those distant times in his childhood when it was still new to him had returned, if only for this moment.

After a while more, Syaoran cleared his throat. "You wanted to come up here to do the assignment, right? Let's start filling those out."

"Right!" Sakura took hers out, and then squinted at it. She frowned. "It's hard for me to see it. There's not enough light here." She dug through her cards and squinting at them manages to make them out. "Should I use the Light Card…?"

"That's overkill. You'll make it really hard to see the stars if you use something that powerful," Syaoran told her. "The Glow Card should be enough."

"Oh, that's right," Sakura nodded, "I'll do that instead." She squinted through her deck again to search for it.

It might have otherwise been a peculiar scene, a boy and girl hovering some thousand feet in the air doing a homework assignment with a pair of glowing orbs drifting slowly above their papers. It worked fine, though, as they got through the questions quite quickly. Even after they had finished the last question they remained up there, admiring the spectacle above them until they realized it was high time they went back home.

As Sakura landed them back on the ground, Syaoran noticed that Sakura seemed very pleased about something. "You liked the star display that much, didn't you?"

"Oh, I did!" Sakura exclaimed happily. "But there's something else I'm really happy about."

Syaoran blinked. "What?"

Sakura smiled at Syaoran with pride. "I used three cards at once, and for a long while! I think that was the first time I've ever tried to do that, and I'm not even tired!"

Syaoran thought for a few moments. "Your magic power is probably increasing."

"You think so?"

Syaoran looked at her. "Your power comes from the light of stars. But I think it comes from one star in particular. There was one star up there that's a lot more luminous than I remember it." He pointed out to Sakura a star on his diagram. "This one. I think it might be your star."

"My…star?" Sakura gazed at it with awe. "You think this could be it…?"

"It's only gotten brighter since you started using your magic powers. It's really likely."

Sakura put her finger on it softly with amazement. Then she looked back up at Syaoran and beamed. "I'm happy we did this assignment together. Thank you, Syaoran-kun."

Syaoran blushed again, but this time he only said, "…I-I'm glad."


End file.
